PAYNE, JOHN

born May 23, 1912, Roanoke, Va., U.S. died Dec. 6, 1989, Malibu, Calif. American actor, a popular leading man during the 1940s who appeared opposite Alice Faye and Betty Grable in a succession of Twentieth Century-Fox musicals. Payne attended the University of Virginia and Columbia University in New York and made his motion-picture debut in Dodsworth (1936). After working with various film companies, he joined Twentieth Century-Fox, where he starred in such musicals as Tin Pan Alley (1940), Footlight Serenade (1942), Springtime in the Rockies (1942), Hello, Frisco, Hello (1943), and The Dolly Sisters (1945). He is probably best remembered as the lawyer who defends Kris Kringle in the Christmas fantasy Miracle on 34th Street (1947). He later starred in a television series, The Restless Gun (195859). Payne appeared opposite Faye in a revival of the stage musical Good News (197374).